Birthday Surprises
by scarletpoppy
Summary: Short multichapter fiction. Each chapter dedicated to peoples birthdays. It's Nikki's 36th birthday and she's never felt so alone. However after her first initial birthday surprise, more quickly follow, making her realise who she truly wants...
1. For WelshClaire

**This is my short multichapter fic for everyone's birthdays around this time. It will be a 5 chapter fic, maybe with an epilogue (but we'll see).**  
**Rated M for whats to come, I will give you warning, but this chapter is more T.**

**So here is part 1, and is for Claire's birthday :) Happy Birthday! I hope you really have had an absolutely wonderful day! Lots of hugs :) x**

You glumly looked at the small array of birthday cards on the table. 36 years old today. You were 36 years old and living on your own in a flat with no family life. You didn't have any children, or a husband, or even a lover. You didn't even have any really good friends apart from Harry and Leo, at they were both colleagues. You knew you had other friends, but they had all got married and had children years ago now. Leo had Janet, and was full on the way to adopting a baby, and Harry had his new girlfriend, Georgia.

You however didn't have anyone.

You sadly looked down at your pathetic bowl of cereal. Why did you even bother with the continuous charade of being happy with this single life?

Your phone rang; Harry's name appeared on the caller ID. You lazily pressed the green button and stuck it on speaker phone.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Nikki, happy birthday to you!" He sang cheerfully, although terribly out of tune down the phone. You felt a smile flicker onto your face. Only Harry would call you at 6:30am and sing. "Morning Nikki! Almost ready for work?"

"Thank you, and yes Harry. I'm just finishing off my breakfast."

"I hope you're treating yourself to something fattening and sugary."

"Is special K that?"

"I presume you don't mean ketamine?"

"No Harry. It's cereal."

"That's really boring then. Am I still picking you up?"

"Yep, I'll see you in half an hour yes?"

"Of course. I have your birthday present as well." He sounded pleased with himself. You said goodbye to him and hung up the phone with a smile on your face.

You knew that he always made you feel better, but equally knew he was out of bounds for more than one reason. The first reason was that he had Georgia, and they had been dating for four months now and seemed quite serious. The second reason being was that you were his best friend, he was like your brother, and you were way too close. The third reason was that he was your work colleague, you would spend all of your time in close proximity to each other, and you already got on each other's nerves as it was.

You sighed and walked to your bedroom to get dressed. At 7am exactly you heard a knock at the door, you presumed it was Harry, you were right. He pulled you into a typical Harry hug. It was the one that made you want to stay there forever. But you couldn't, so you pulled away. He wished you another happy birthday and went to have a look at your pitiful collection of cards and you went to grab your bag.

"Why has my Mum sent you a card?" He asked holding up one of the prettier cards with butterflies on.

"I got talking with her at her new years eve party that you invited me to."

"You were supposed to keep me company, not make friends with my Mum." He laughed. You knew he found it funny but you found comfort in her. She reminded you of glimpses of your past when your Mother was alive. It was the same with Janet, and Martha; you seemed to attach yourself onto any motherly figure. You would never tell Harry any of this of course. But you still liked Anne being there.

"Ready?" You nodded.

"Where's my present then?" You cheekily asked as he drove you to work. He smirked, but wouldn't tell you anything. You had insisted you didn't want anything. But as usual Harry and Leo by the number of hints and winks that had been flying around the office had got something.

They got to work on time, which shocked Leo slightly on Harry's half. When Leo saw you he pulled you into a tender hug and kissed you on the cheek before wishing you a happy birthday as well. Leo rushed off to a crime scene, leaving you and Harry alone on your birthday doing paperwork.

You glanced upwards from your toxicology report to see Harry gazing at you intently. He sighed and looked back down at his paperwork.

"What?" You asked.

"It doesn't matter."

"Why were you staring at me?" He looked up again at you with interest. You traced your eyes along his strong jaw line, imagined kissing those cheek bone, running your hand through that hair. You pushed the thoughts away as quickly as they came, like usual.

"Do you really want to know?" You nodded. "I don't understand how someone so beautiful hasn't got a husband and kids." He replied in a matter of fact tone. You didn't know how to reply. You presumed he meant you, he had just called you beautiful, but also implied that you were alone.

"She probably has a terrible personality then." You replied slightly harshly and went back down to your work.

"She doesn't." He said simply. You felt tears well up in your eyes. You knew why, you just couldn't admit it to yourself. The man you had dreamed about had called you beautiful, and said that you didn't have a terrible personality. It's like Christmas had come early and fallen on your birthday. But there was also a pure sadness within you because you knew you couldn't have him.

Later, Leo came back and offered you a PM to do to get you out of paper work on your birthday. You happily took it to give you a break from Harry. You just made it to the locker room before the threatening tears fell. You wiped them away quickly and reapplied your make up before changing into your scrubs. You didn't quite know what to do with this situation.

You walked into the cutting room, only to find no body laid out. Your first thought was annoyance, some lab tech hadn't prepared it for you, and you supposed that she should go do it herself.

Then, without warning about six people jumped up from behind various slabs and cupboards.

"Happy birthday!" They all called out slightly out of sync from the amount of laughter that filled the room. You couldn't process anything. What was happening? You laughed in spite of everything before greeting the people in front of you with warm hugs, and tears.

Martha had her arms wrapped around you; you had no idea why she was here. You pulled away slightly to let Sara give you a hug, followed by her children and Pieter. Tears sprung to your eyes for a third time in the day, but these were a different kind, these were pure tears of joy.

"Why are you here?" You babbled incoherently.

"For you birthday!" Pieter replied in his booming South African voice. "Surprise!" You laughed, still not fully understanding.

"How did you get into the cutting room? Why are you in the cutting room?"

"We'll explain later, now I could kill for a coffee, and maybe a meal seeing as it is you birthday. Come on Niks, get changed out of your scrubs and meet you in the entrance ja?" Sara bossed, it made you laugh, she never changed. You agreed and pointed them the way out before you made your way to the locker room again.

Harry and Leo stood there looking very pleased with themselves.

"Do you like it? It's your birthday present?" Leo asked expectantly.

"You organised it!"

"Harry and I yes. Sara contacted me to say that she was coming on holiday with her family to London and she wanted to surprise you. Harry suggested that for your birthday present we would buy Martha a ticket. So a load of people including us clubbed together to get her a ticket so she could come to London to surprise you as well." Leo announced proudly.

"But that would have been so expensive!" You stumbled over your words, still in shock.

"Lots of people were willing to give money." Harry smiled at you; he wrapped his arm around your shoulder. You leaned to him slightly.

"Thank you." You said to both of them, you leant forwards and gave Leo a kiss on the cheek, before you returned back to Harry. "It's the best present ever."

"And now I'm offended about the necklace I gave you last year." Harry joked. You punched him lightly in the stomach before pushing him away. They left, allowing her to change out of her scrubs.

You changed quickly, and re-did your make up, again. You sat down on the bench and leant forwards, propping yourself up. You ran your hands through your hair. Harry and Leo had definitely spent too much on you, but you were so grateful. You had never been this grateful for anything.

You started making you way out of the room, but you crashed into Harry. He looked down at you urgently, desperately. Your bodies were touching together; you could feel his chest rising up and down next to yours.

"Nikki, I meant you earlier." He said. He was staring straight into your eyes. There was a look in his eye that you couldn't place. You hadn't seen it before in any other men's eyes, only even Harry's, but you had never been this close to this look. It was lust, hunger. It was fiery passion. It was wonder, curiosity. It was nerves. It was beautiful.

He leant closer to you. Everyone of your nerves heightened and tingled.

He pressed a kiss onto your lips. Like the one 6 years ago, but this made your heart scream even more. Made your blood rush through your veins faster. Made you smile more than usual. You felt cliché; it was like electricity, the spark between your lips running from each of your bodies

He pulled away. You knew it was wrong, he had a girlfriend, but he had kissed you. You decided you didn't care, it was your birthday. You just wanted to enjoy the day with everybody.

"Was that my other birthday present?" You whispered, it made him laugh.

"Shall we go? Everyone will be waiting you the birthday girl." He kissed your cheek and wrapped an arm around her waist, before he guided you out the room.

You walked in silence for a minute, he had let go of you now, but your skin occasionally brushed, causing shivers down you.

"You said on the phone this morning that you had my birthday present." You asked, remembering the conversation.

"Well you have had an extra one today so you'll have to wait till later." He teased.

"Tell me!" You replied playfully.

"Patience dear Nicola." You rolled your eyes dramatically at him. "Anyway, aren't you happy with the other two?"

"Yes." You replied simply. You were overly pleased, on the verge of ecstatic with them.

"I promise you'll like the last one." He replied sweetly before pulling you down a side corridor. He ran one of his hands through your hair as he kissed you again. You felt both of you smiling under each other's touch before you pulled away with a small giggle escaping from your lips.

"Come on, let's go." You said escaping his grasps playfully before dodging down the corridor, listening to him laugh at you.

**Thank you for reading :) Quick cheeky review anyone?**  
**And another Happy Birthday for Claire :) x**


	2. For Audrey1119

**I forgot to say to all the birthday girls last time that I'm very sorry if you don't really like you chapter, the whole fic is written to all of you really, just each chapter is dedicated!**  
**Anyway, this one is for the ever so lovely Audrey- Happy Birthday! Have a lovely day and eat lots of cake! Hugs xx**

"I can't believe your here you know." You said to Martha.

"I can't believe I'm in London with my Nikki! You're all grown up!" She sighed, it made you smile and you drove along. Leo had apparently put them all on holiday for that day, but Harry and him were on call.

You were driving to a restaurant that Harry knew you loved. It was more of a pub in all honesty, but it was very stylish, and had book shelves all over the walls. It resembled more of an old country manor than a pub, and it did outstanding food.

You heard Sara and Pieter already arguing in the back, their South African accents rough against the London back ground. Sara's children were in Harry's car, and Leo was going to pick up Janet before joining them.

You still couldn't quite believe that they were all here with you; it almost felt surreal, that you'd wake up any second.

And then there was the situation with Harry. You loved him kissing you. You had never felt like that before, had never felt so protected, so loved. But you didn't know what was happening with it all really, you had remembered he had did have a girlfriend. She hoped he wasn't the type to cheat, even if he had done so with her.

They arrived at the restaurant.

"This looks so English Niks!" You laughed at Sara's exclamation of shock at anything that wasn't South African. She had always been very set in her ways.

You were the first to arrive there, so you took your seats around the table, Martha next to you, and Sara and Pieter opposite.

"How long are you all staying for?" You asked.

"We're staying for two weeks, but for the second one we're doing all the London tourist stuff, so we are staying more North of the river to do all of that stuff." Sara replied as she flicked through the menu. You looked at Martha.

"Just one week for me." Martha replied with her warm smile. You wondered if it was overwhelming for her. The change of rural South Africa to the busy gray London is one that you at fourteen years old struggled to cope with. You didn't think that Martha had ever been out of South Africa in her life, it must have been a change. You wondered where she was staying that time, you knew she didn't have much money, and Harry and Leo must have already spend so much to even get her a return ticket for you. You decided you needed to ask them later.

Zaretta entered looking slightly bored, but with apparent good reason. Callum, Ethan and Harry soon followed discussing planes. This always seemed to be the inevitable topic of conversation with Harry and younger children.

He sat next to you and gave you a tiny wink as you mutter 'air head' under your breath, only loud enough for him to hear. You watched his every movement; the laugh as Sara commented on Harry's geekyness of being obsessed with planes, the delicate touch of his strong fingers on his wine glass as he moved it impatiently for a drink, the flicker of his eyes as he glanced down at the menu checking that his favourite meal was still there. Every single breath, movement, though, made your heart beat. You lived for that accidental brushing of your skin as he reached for the water, or that moment when his sultry deep eyes met yours.

You pulled yourself out of his trance that Harry had set over you as Leo and Janet entered and took the last two seats at the table. They all ordered drinks and food and sat chatting to each other, the atmosphere full of laughter. After a while, janet stood up and went to the bathroom, you decided to follow her, she would be a good person to approach with the Harry situation.

You sat perched on the counter with the sinks on as Janet washed her hands.

"What's wrong?" She asked, instantly knowing that you had something to say.

"Harry kissed me." You didn't mean to put is so bluntly, but you didn't know how else to say it. You loved saying that though, it felt so right, so good to let it spill from your lips. You bit you lip, trying to hold down a smile, a giggle of joy. Janet didn't help though. She was beaming at you, almost on the verge of laughing. She stepped forwards to you and held your hand. You remembered what you were going to ask her, it made your mood dampen a little. You felt Janet squeeze your hand as she saw your smile drop.

"Janet, he has a girlfriend." You stated desperately. "What do I do?"

"Does he?"

"Yeah, Georgia, he's been seeing her for about four months now." You replied.

"I swear Leo told me they split up about two weeks ago now."

"Really?" You hoped this was true; every fibre in your body wanted this to be true. She nodded and beamed radiantly at you again.

"You know Nikki, I really can't believe this. He kissed you! Was it definitely a proper kiss?" She asked disbelievingly. You nodded bashfully.

"You can't tell anyone, I haven't spoken to Harry yet. It all seems too good to be true."

"Of course I won't." She reassured. "How an earth does it seem too good to be true? For as long as I have known you, you have both blatantly wanted each other. And according to Leo, even longer than that!" She teased as you slip of the counter allowing her you give you a hug, her musky flowery smell comforting your senses.

"Thank you. I really appreciate everything you know, all of this."

"I know." Janet smiled again before giving her a small nudge. "Come on you, lets get back."

They sat back down at the table to be joined by plates of food. They ate, and talked and drank. After a few hours the conversation somehow drifted to your childhood.

"I always knew she was going to be a Doctor you know." Martha said lovingly. "Ever since you dug up that cat you had to be a Doctor, you are too kind to become a serial killer." Everyone laughed, you felt yourself blush slightly at the compliment and quite frankly slightly embarrassing memory.

"Ah, there still time. Give it another 10 years." Harry joked.

"You'll be first." You said back with a smirk, everyone laughing.

"Why don't I doubt that?" He smirked back, you caught his eye. You gaze lingered between you both. You struggled to pull away from his stare. You wanted to kiss him again. Why did he have to be so tempting?

You managed to flick your eyes away, as painful and it was, when Leo started to discuss some sort of new technique that Sara had mentioned before with PM's. Out the corner of your eye you saw Harry text someone under the table.

You felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. It made you jump slightly. You pulled it out and had one new message from Harry, who was now discussing something about planes with Callum.

'_I kissed you earlier' _It said. A little obvious, but you replied all the same.

'_Yes you did. And?...'_

'_Can I come over tonight to talk about it? And to give you your last birthday present ;) '_

'_What's everyone else supposed to do? Where is Martha staying and how is she paying for this?'_

'_Don't worry N, we've paid for a hotel for her. And Leo, Janet and me are paying for this' _

'_No you're not, you've paid too much already. Let me pay' _

'_Nice try. No.' _

'_I'll fulfil that killer thing if you don't let me.' _

You hear him chuckled under his breath before you nodded your hear at his question. You wondered what the last birthday present was. In a slightly mischievous way, you wanted him. Yet, you didn't want it to be a one off fling with him; you wanted to know he meant it. That he meant the kiss from earlier to be something, or was it just an apology? Or something to shut her up, cheer her up, like last time. You hoped it wasn't.

You had finished you meal, everyone was full and warm. Leo had managed to sneak off and pay the bill for the entire table, which annoyed you a little bit, but he gave you that little look that he always did when he wanted you to drop it. You found it hard to disobey that look; it was on the list of things that annoyed you about him that you made when he was in hospital.

"I'm really sorry Niks but we were flying through the night and I don't know about the rest of this terrible bunch but I am well and truly knackered. We're probably going to make our way back to our hotel now and try get a early night."

"But Mom, it's not even 5!" Ethan whined.

"Yeah and none of us slept on that plane. So you're going to go to bed when I tell you." She scolded.

"How are you getting there? Do you need a lift?" You asked.

"Nah it's fine Niks, we'll get a taxi." You stood up as the all left and gave them all big hugs. "Don't worry, we're not leaving. We'll see you tomorrow yeah?"

You said another round of goodbyes before all your South African family clambered into a black cab and left. It left you with Harry's arm lazily wrapped around your shoulder and Janet and Leo standing behind you slightly.

"Do you want to come to mine for a coffee?" You asked them; already knowing Harry was going to come around.

"Sorry Nikki, I've got a PM to do, and Janet's got paper work." They also kissed you goodbye before driving off leaving.

Harry looked down at you.

"Would you like your present now?" You nodded. He brought out a deep emerald velvet jewellery box. Just the box you were in awe at. You slowly lifted the lid up. On the plush silk sat a thin silver chain with a pendant at the end. It was a tiny delicate silver butterfly, with rich blue sapphires encrusting its wings. You touched it, the cold metal emblazing your hand, like it was bonding you to it. You lifted it up, you hadn't noticed until then that your hands were shaking.

"Can you put it on me please?" He took the clasp from you and stood behind you whilst he fastened it with such delicacy. You placed the hand over the pendant, holding it close to your heart. It was as if a piece of him would always be with you, next to your heart.

He was still standing behind you. You could feel his hot breath on your neck getting closer and closer. His lips touched the nape of your neck. He pressed a kiss onto you. He continue down your collar bone, you leaned into his touch, letting your body melt into his as he turned you around, now kissing you on your lips.

You opened your mouth slightly, letting his tongue push in, tasting you. His teeth grazed along your bottom lips and his kissed you more passionately. You let your hand run through his hair like you had wanted to do so many times before. He pulled away from your mouth, you desperately needed him more, and you didn't want him to stop.

"Do you like it?" He asked heavily, his chest was rising and falling quickly.

"Like what?" You replied breathlessly, your heart was fluttering, you wanted more contact. He touched your pendant, pressing a thumb against, using the rest of his fingers to caress you collar bone.

"Of course I do." You replied softly as he wrapped an arm around your waist.

"Really?"

"Really. I love it." You wanted to replace 'it' with 'you'. Because in that moment you really did. You realised he was everything that you wanted, everything that you needed to keep you alive and more.

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews from last time, hugs to Claire, Lizziginne, Audrey1119 (extra one cause its your birthday), Detectabledaisy, whitenessie, and Charlotte88 :)**  
**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and any more reviews would be very greatly appreciated!**  
**Happy Birthday Audrey!**

**Love P x**


	3. For Pinkswallowsun

**Oooh such lovely reviews from last chapter! Thank you very much to anyone who did review! **  
**To SWkiwiFan, and anyone else who had had a birthday, or will have a birthday in this upcoming week, just mention on the review and I will dedicate the epilogue to you :)**

**This chapter is for the lovely Pinkswallowsun- Happy Birthday Flossie :) And of course to Emilia Fox, who shares the day with you, and I will always be jealous because of that! Have a wonderful day! **

You didn't quite know how you drove home without crashing. Your heart was beating so quickly, it was suddenly pushing to live and love.

You managed to park up and walk into your apartment without making a total fool of yourself. You chucked your keys and bag on the kitchen counter before sticking the kettle on. You tried to make breathe deeply, letting oxygen reach every single cell. You closed your eyes, letting the blackness calm your brain, blocking any thoughts. You felt your mind relax. You composed yourself. It was fine, everything was going to be ok.

A knock at the door. It made your nerves jump again, making your blood rush with anticipation. You opened it to find Harry holding a beautiful bunch of pink and white flowers, similar to the ones he brought you when he stayed in your appartment. He presented them to you with a smile.

"Thank you." You said quietly. He laughed.

"I'm not sure if these's are a bunch of flowers now for saying thank you from now, or thank you from last time,or just to say happy birthday." You giggled taking them off him.

"Never ending cycle." You filled a vase from the living room and placed the flowers in it as Harry took a seat on your sofa. "Coffee?" He nodded as he started to look at more of your cards.

"Did you get any other presents?" He called to you as you put the coffee in your mugs.

"No, who would I get them from?" You replied.

"You're unsuitable male admires?"

"Say's you who didn't tell me if you'd split up with your girl friend before you kissed me!" You called, keeping your tone light. You heard him swear under his breath before he moved towards the kitchen.

"Um, I did break up with her a while back." He said guiltily, it made you laugh.

"It's Ok, I know." You handed him a coffee with a smile.

"I would never cheat on someone." He said really seriously, standing close to you. You looked up into his eyes as you sipped your coffee.

"I know." You said to him before squeezing his hand and taking him into the living room. You sat on the sofa with him, your legs over his.

"Harry?" You asked after a while of silent thoughts and coffee.

"Yes?"

"What's going to happen with us?"

"Do you want there to be an us?" He asked, his face frowning slightly with worry and panic.

"Yes." You visibly saw him relax. "But I wanted there to be an us last time. But it didn't work out." You replied quickly, trying to make yourself not sound too pathetic or needy.

"I do too. Of course I want there to be an us." He paused, still looking at you. "Last time we didn't know each other as well, I didn't know what I wanted as much as I do now. I know I want you this time." His eyes were trusting, you believed him.

This time you leaned forward and initiated the kiss but you didn't hold it for long. Instead you pulled away and collapsed into his arms, letting him pull you into his body. You don't know how long you sat there letting him cuddle you.

You let the musky strong smell of his aftershave intoxicate your muscles. Each particle of it competing against the familiar scent of your apartment battling to become the most dominated and relaxing comfort.

You felt him playing with your hair, wrapping each strand around his finger, and then unwinding it gently. It made you feel like a child, it was tender. His fingers then crept down your neck and started to stroke your shoulder blades as if he were trying to trace your body into his memory. It was soothing.

You felt your early morning catching up with you. Your eyelids felt heavy, each muscled was relaxed into him. He was keeping you safe, warm, protected. You felt yourself fall asleep.

_You were walking to that monument in Budapest. Leo asked to meet you there. It was too hot for you to wear jeans really, the humid air tight against your lungs._

_No one was there. You sat down with exhaustion on the steps. The rest sped up, Leo was there muttering your name, you turned away from him, not wanting him to see you cry again._

_The sound of quick footsteps followed, the sound of deep breaths, the sound of your sob as you realised who it was. The smell of sweat, blood, and petrol hit you trying to mask the one scent you knew. His aftershave. It was faint, blurred, but was still there. Harry. You turned around to let him embrace you. You touched his arms, but instead of pulling you into him he yelled out in pain._

_He begged you to stop, screaming out your name. You didn't understand, he was alive; you didn't want to hurt him. However you were. His skin was burning under your fingertips, you instinctively withdrew them as his face screwed up with pain, only to watch his clothes set ablaze. He screamed out as the dancing yellow flickered over his face._

_You couldn't do anything. You tried to pull him away from the bright flames, but you couldn't even get close. The white hot heat radiated out of him, hitting your body, pushing you away from him. _

_The distinctive smell of burning skin singed your receptors, sending a wave of repulsion up your body. He fell to the ground, writing in pain. You watched in horror as his flesh melted away. You choked on the smokeThe process was sped up, the pathologist in you knew that, but it didn't matter as you watched the flames die down revealing a blacked skeleton, curled up in pain, jaw open screaming in a constant horror._

_You felt a sob fall from your lips. You tried to get him close to you, touching the hot charcoaled bones. You wanted his contact. You tried to wrap his arms around you desperately trying to picture and imagine him holding you._

_He started to crumbled under your fingers as you tried to grasp the last remains of him. He was gone. You lay sobbing in a pile of dirty grey ashes, hardly letting yourself to believe he wasn't with you. You heard the memory of his beautifully deep soothing voice echo around your head. He called your name, repeated it, his voice becoming desperate, trying to pull you towards him._

"Nikki, please wake up!" Your eyes flew open. He was leaning over you, his face inches from yours.

You slowly became aware that you were in your bedroom, your flowery cream duvet tangled around your body. Harry was kneeling next to you on the mattress. He had one hand on your arms, the other next to your head, allowing him to lean over you. Another involuntary sob heaved from your chest. His eyes filled with pity and pain, like he was watching something upsetting.

"Shh Nikki, it's OK, it was a dream. You're safe with me." He cooed as he stroked your hair into your pillow.

It was a dream. He was really in front of you. It made you cry more, knowing how much it tore into you seeing him leaving you forever just in a dream.

You reached out in front of you to feel the rough dark stubble on his chin before you cupped his face. You stayed there; almost disbelievingly as you held him, you just appreciated him being there. Appreciated every breath he took, every beat of his heart, every thought in his brain.

You realised how lost you would have been without him, back then your brain couldn't process it. You couldn't have a world without him. He was a part of you. If you lost him it would have shifted the universe. He was your balancing force, the push from your pull, the light in your dark. Without him, you wouldn't function. It scared you that you were so close to losing him; he was seconds away from death.

He brushed tears off your cheeks, and smiled slightly as your sobs started to cease.

"There you go, it's all OK." He said sweetly. You moved your hands from his face and wrapped them around his neck, sitting up as you clung onto him. You felt him press a kiss on top of your head. It made you cry even more as you realised that he was trying to comfort you, trying to care for you. What would you do without him? He started to rock you, he positioned his legs around you making a protective area.

"Sorry.'" You muttered into him.

"Don't be. Want to tell me what's wrong." You shook your head, you already felt stupid.

"Was just a bad dream."

"I know. It's just a dream, it's not real. I don't mind what it is. Tell me Nikki." He pressed another kiss onto your cheek and coiled his strong fingers through yours. You kept silent; you didn't want to tell him that all this stupid crying was because you thought you had lost him. Just the memory of it, his burnt body, that sickening smell, made a lump appear in your throat. You tried to hold the fresh wave of tears down. A few slipped from your eyes and onto his neck. He obviously felt them, as he then pulled you around into his lap facing him. His eyes bore into yours, pleading for you to tell him.

"It was just about Budapest." You muttered to him. He lifted his hands from yours and caressed you cheeks. "It was a bit different though. At the monument, I thought you were alive, but... but then..." You started to cry again, the tears streaking down your face again. "I touched you but you started to burn..." Harry pulled you into a hug; he wrapped his arms protectively around you. "I thought you were dead." You finished quietly. His arms tightened around you.

"Listen to me Nikki." He commanded, his tone was urgent. You looked up at his face. "I will never leave you now. I promise. I know you'd never hurt me."

"I know." You replied, you voice barely audible. "I'm sorry. I was being stupid."

"No you weren't. I'm sorry too." He kissed you firmly on the lips. It was a fact; his force of his being was something nothing could change. You calmed down slightly, as he held you for longer.

After a while you heard his stomach rumbled. A giggle escaped from your lips, you pulled yourself after his arms.

"Hungry?" You laughed as it rumbled again. He chuckled deeply.

"Always."

"You're such a man." He smiled and kissed you again. You could get used to this. You were already used to it, but it was so brilliant. "Come on, let's get something to eat."

You both clambered off the bed. You grabbed your dressing gown and wrapped it around you before wandering towards the kitchen. You watched Harry as he searched through your cupboards looking for some kind of food.

"Do you have anything in?" He asked. "Seriously Nikki, all you have is pasta, soup, and herbs."

"I have sugar and flour also!" He rolled his eyes at you. "There's chicken nuggets and ice cream in the fridge." You said as you brought an oven tray out the draw. Harry pulled them out the fridge.

"Nikki, you have 6 tubs of ice cream. And hardly any proper food. Who eats 6 tubs of ice cream?"

"I do. It's my birthday, I'm allowed!" Harry laughed again as he put the food in the oven.

"What were you going to eat this evening?"

"Takeaway and ice cream." You replied innocently, and honestly. He laughed and wrapped his arms around your waist pulling you in to him. You wrapped you arms around his neck and he smiled down at you.

"Do you know how beautiful you are?" He whispered, looking straight at you. You felt yourself blush slightly.

"I've been crying and I doubt I have any make up on and I'm wearing a dressing down and my hairs..." He kissed you again, stopping you rant mid flow.

"And yet you are still the most beautiful person in the world." You didn't fully believe him, how could you? You disagreed, but you liked him saying it.

"Thank you."

You talked for a bit, your bodies still pressed close together before the food was cooked. After a while, you got the chicken nuggets out the oven and threw Harry a bag of crisps before you made your way your way back to the sofa. You both started to eat. You watched him grimace at the very cheap chicken nuggets, before shrugging it off and eating them. It made you giggle again.

After finishing he pulled you onto his lap. You wrapped your legs around him. He pulled your hair out of the messy bun you had, your golden curls fell in front of your face. He looked at you with a hunger, a lust which you had never seen in his eyes. If made you want him even more. You were suddenly aware that your breath smelt like chicken nuggets and quavers. You pulled away slightly; you saw his eye brows furrow slightly. He tried to pull you back as you shuffled of his lap.

"We haven't had ice cream." You teased. He laughed as he jumped off the sofa to the fridge.

"You are really annoying!" He called from the kitchen. You smiled to yourself as you head him getting the spoons.

You had high hopes for this evening, and that wasn't just because of the ice cream. This morning you expected to be sitting on your sofa eating the ice cream on your own, probably feeling down. You definitely did not expect what your hoped would happen tonight. And you have never been so excited.

**Slight angst in that chapter, but I hope it was OK for you all :) Please just drop a little review, anything will do!**  
**Promise of smut in the nect chapter (eeekk)! But another Happy Birthday to Flossie!**  
**Much love, P x**


	4. For Lizziginne

**Thank you again for the very amazing reviews- I'm so glad that your liking it so far :) Ok, so this chapter is M rating. It's smut. Stop reading now if you do not want to read smut. I'm not sure how good it is seeing as it is my first proper chapter of smut but hey :P**

**So this chapter is to the lovely Lizziginne, Happy Birthday! I hope you have a wonderful day :)**

You finally finished your ice cream, ages after Harry had. He seemed impatient, twitchy even. You got up and walked to the bathroom, hearing him groan slightly under his breath. It made you smile slightly to know you weren't giving him what he wanted.

You probably shouldn't tease him further; he had been so lovely to you all day. However he had turned his nose up slightly at the chicken nuggets.

You smirked to yourself as you deviously planned what you were going to do in your head.

You gave your mouth a quick swirl of mouth wash, and washed your face. You took your clothes off and stood naked in the bathroom. You curled up your toes in excitement, a fresh feeling of anticipation ran through your veins, from the tip of your toes to every tingling hair on your body.

You then opened the door and walked to your bedroom. The only chance Harry would see you would be if he was looking at the door way. You didn't know if he did see you or not.

You quickly pulled a draw open and flung a new silk nighty on. It was deep magenta, but had delicate black lace trimmings around it. The top was strappy and every piece of material clung to your body, visibly showing your already hard nipples.

You stood by the door way, waiting for him to arrive. In a few seconds you heard the pad of his feet across the carpet. He saw you and made a sound which was crossed between a gasp and a little moan. Before you had even a chance to move he was next to you, pinning you against the wall, his mouth passionately kissing yours.

You wrapped your arms up to his neck, landing your hands on the back of his head. His hair felt thick beneath your fingers, you tugged at the shorter piece, trying to grasp on. His hands slipped over the silky material, pressing into your waist. It sent shivers up your spine just knowing that his hands were on you. He pressed his body against you, the heavy warm weight of him making contact with every part of you.

His hot breath mixed with yours as his tongue flickered over yours, his teeth grazing your lips. You could taste the sweet chocolaty caramel from the ice cream; it made you need his mouth in yours more. You kissed him harder, stretching up onto your tiptoes to fully reach his lips. You felt his respond as he bit harder down on your lips before be started to hungrily started to kiss your jaw line. His tongue flickered around your neck and he licked and sucked the most sensitive spots on your collar bone. God, he was brilliant.

You shakily unhooked your hands from his neck and hair and started to undo the buttons on his shirt. You pulled it off his shoulders and felt it fall to you feet, the cuff landing on your foot. You glanced down at his bare torso. He slightly toned body was scattered with dark hairs. You ran your nails slowly down his chest, smiling into his mouth as you heard a groan fall from his lips.

He ran his hands over your body again; they crept up and started to massage your breasts. The material caused friction between your nipples and his touch, causing you to gasp in pleasure. This spurred him on even more as he dropped his hands to your thighs and picking you up. He carried you to your bed and placed you in the centre.

He knelt back slightly and played with the lace on the bottom of your nighty.

"Can I?" He asked, as he signalled he was going to take it off you. You nodded. He pulled it over your head and sat back observing what was in front of him.

"You are so beautiful." He whispered as he stared at your naked body. His gaze was making blush, it was so intense. You couldn't escape it as his eyes traced every inch of your body, burning paths in their way. "Beautiful."

You leant forwards, his eyes followed you as unhooked his belt. He helped your shaking hands by taking his jeans off himself. You could easily see the bulge under his under wear. You took your hand and cupped him, gently massaging his balls. He breathed out deeply at your touch, murmuring your name, turning you on even further. You sat up and unhooked his underwear from his legs. His cock was already easily ready, but you knew you both were going to save everything. You leant down to him and flicked your tongue over his tip, before you ran a hand down his shaft and started to massage his balls. You slowly took more of him in your mouth, letting your teeth graze along him, causing his to moan your name again. You tasted the saalty sweetness of the precum on the tip of him, you took him out your mouth, your tongue still in contact with it. You swirled your tongue around the tip.

He let out his lounest moan yet.

"Fuck Nikki, you are so good!" He said as you moved away slightly.

He moved toward you more and bent down and pressed a kiss onto your stomach. He littered kisses over your body as he made his way upwards. You felt his lips kiss his way up your breasts; he started to bite and suck one of your hard nipples, his fingers flicking and playing with the other. Your body heaved under his touch as a moan escaped your lips.

You ran yours hands over his back as he moved over to bite the other nipple. Your body squirmed under his, yoru back arching, needing him.

You felt him smile into your neck and he kissed further up you your lips and started to kiss you again. You felt his hard cock press against your thigh. You moved your hips towards him, but he lifted away from you with a slight chuckle.

"Harry..." You moaned, wanting him.

"Not yet." He seductively said back, his low soothing voice filling you.

He placed a hand on your thigh and ran it up your leg sending shivers through your body. He pulled it up to stroke you clit slowly, his mouth still kissing you desperately. He massaged you further. You could feel him throbbing on your leg, your hips buckled just at the thought of him in you.

You felt him press a finger into you; you threw your head back with pleasure, letting another moan escape from you. You were louder than you expected, and probably what he thought as well and he buried his face in your neck once more, biting and licking.

He slipped another finger in you and thrust them quicker creating a wave of pleasure to ripple down your body.

"Fuck Haarrryyy!" You groaned.

"Yes Nicola?" He replied innocently as he rubbed his thumb over your clit.

"I need you." You managed to blurt out between kisses.

"Do you now?" He was teasing you, pushing you as close as he could.

"Oh god Harry. I need you now!" You flung your arms around his neck and buried your hands deep in his hair as you involuntary arched your back.

"Say please Nicola."

"Pleassee, fuck me now Haarrrrryy." You yelled out. The loudness surprised you both again, but he was so utterly felt like he was the only thing you needed in that moment. You felt him lift his hips up slightly before he pressed his tip into you, tantalisingly slowly. He pushed deeper into you, god he was big. He felt so good inside you; every sense tingled and ached with pure ecstasy.

A wave of pleasure radiated throughout you as he started to thrust slowly yet strongly. One of his hands was still rubbing your clit in time; the other was next to your head, balancing him to enable deep penetration. He also managed to clasp his mouth around your nipples, sucking and nibbling them, creating your entire body squirming and heaving under every touch.

"Nikki, you are so beautiful." He moaned forcefully as he looked up at your face. His eyes met yours, and he stared at you with such lust it almost made you embarrassed to be in that gaze. He hungrily kissed you again and he thrust harder and faster into you, both you bodies in perfect rhythmic synchronization.

"Haarrrryyy!" His name fell from your lips amongst other moans as you felt yourself tighten around him.

Pleasure rippled through you. You grabbed onto his back digging your nails in as your body writhed under him as you came. The incredible sensation burst inside you as reached your climax, Harry still penetrating hard within you, keeping that desirable feeling from escaping. You felt his thrusts become quicker, more erratic, before he loudly groaned your name as he realised inside of you.

It sent around wave of agonising bliss as you felt it. He continued a last few pushes, and you came down, your bodies both still heaving.

You felt him starting to go soft inside you; he pulled away from you and collapsed on the bed next to you. He rolled onto his front and propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at you. You leant up and pressed a quick soft kiss on his lips before lying back down on the bed. You closed your eyes, hardly believing what had just happened. A smile crept onto your face.

"Nikki?" He said. You opened your eyes and saw him mirroring the smile you were wearing.

"Yes?"

"You are the most utterly beautiful and amazing person I know." He said in a very matter of fact tone.

"You obviously don't know yourself very well." You commented he laughed dismissively.

"Shut up." He cooed, in unison you both laughed at the memory.

"Why did we wait so long? You were..." You trailed off, not finding the right words. Amazing, incredible, fantastic; they all seemed to safe and normal. You had never felt how you did then, you had felt impossibly loved, you felt passionate, you felt like he only ever wanted you.

"I know." He kissed you on your lips. "You know you look like some sort of angel right now? You skin looks edible, your still all flushed and beautiful and you hair on your pillow makes you look like you have halo." You felt yourself blush. "I love it when you blush." He finished. You smiled at him; it was one of the most wonderful feelings she had ever had to know he was in her bed naked next to her.

"This is the best birthday ever you know. You've made me feel so special and wanted."

"Can I do that for the rest of your life?" He whispered into your ear, his strong body closing in on you. You murmured a sound of agreement.

"Thank you." You said, you wrapped your arms around his waist and pressed a kiss onto his shoulder. He turned over, letting you lie across his chest. You lazily drew patterns onto his skin, smiling to yourself.

"And you. You are the most amazing person in the world." He scooped his arms around you and pulled you closer to him so your head was next to his. "Are we telling people? About us?"

"Janet might guess." You said slightly guiltily. "I told her you kissed me when I still though you had a girlfriend. I wasn't sure what I should do."

"I'm so sorry I forgot to tell you." It was his turn to look guilty. "It's ok, I don't mind if we tell people. You choose."

"I don't think we should tell them, but then if they guess then we'll tell them." He nodded and lazily kissed you on your lips again. "That means we can't kiss in front of them."

He pulled a mock horror face which made you giggle. He sat up, making you fall off him chest, he straddled you, pinning you down.

"That really is a shame." He growled deeply in his sensuous voice as he leant forwards and started to pepper kisses over your neck.

"Why?"

"Because that mean we have to do all our kissing now." He smiled down at you. You did love that smile, and perhaps, just perhaps it could be yours for forever more.

**I hope that was OK, I'm not pleased with it because I've had to change it so many times and its different to how I imagined it, but hey, any reviews would still be lovely :P **  
**Another huge happy birthday to Lizzi, big hugs to you xxxxx**


	5. For Charlotte88

**Slightly shorter chapter here! Thank you for the reviews from last time though, amazing :) Slightly suggestive themes, but nothing too bad! Last chapter, the next one witth be the epilogue, and might be a lot shorter (not sure yet haha)!**

**So, a big Happy Birthday to Charlotte88! I'm very very sorry this is late, but I hope you like it! **

Waking up on that day after your birthday was one of the best feelings in the world. Harry still had his arms wrapped around you, the only thing you were wearing was the butterfly necklace he had given you, and for once the night before was reality, not just a dream.

You checked the time and realise that you probably should both get ready for work. As much as you wanted to lie in his arms forever, you unhooked an arm and started to trace the features of his face. A smile flickered across his lips as you ran a finger up his cheekbone.

"Morning." He murmured softly.

"Morning." You leaned forwards slightly and pressed a gentle kiss onto his mouth.

"Do we have to get up now?" You nodded, but he pulled you closer instead. "I don't want to." He moaned like a child, it made you giggle.

"You need to go home."

"Why?" He seemed surprised, a glimpse of hurt flashed across his face.

"Because you only have the clothes from yesterday. Including underwear. And you have to change your underwear." He laughed at your reasoning.

"I'll get going then." He slipped out of bed and pulled his underwear on. As he turned around you could see scratch marks and lines across his back.

He sat down on the bed to put his jeans on. You rolled over to him and started to trace the scratches.

"Sorry about these." You said, pressing kisses onto the deeper ones. He chuckled.

"They don't hurt, they felt good."

"Sure?"

"Of course. You were amazing last night you know." He turned around and kissed you softly before standing up.

"As were you." You replied before lying back in the pillows and duvet. Harry was wandering around the bedroom; it looked like he was looking for something.

"Shirt?" You asked. He nodded. "Doorway."

"Ah yes. Thank you." He pulled the shirt over his bare torso before.

"What are Sara and people doing today?" You asked as he came and sat on the bed next to you.

"I think Sara's at a conference today, but it's the only one. I think Pieter and Martha are going to look around some art galleries today. But I think for the rest of the week Leo has managed to put you on call all week so you can spend time with them. Janet's cooking dinner for everyone tonight."

"Really? That's nice of her. She doesn't have to."

"Well it's either you or her, and you can't cook." You kicked him at this true comment, before holding his collar and tugging him down to your lips.

You felt him lick your lips, wanting access to your mouth. You let him, parting your lips and allowing your tongues to twist together and taste each other. Underneath the duvet you lifted your leg up to press it onto his crotch and started to rub him. He smiled at this before moving his mouth down your neck and started to kiss your collar bones. You let out a little moan as you felt him harden, with encouraged him further to bite down on your skin.

You pushed him away, knowing that you were teasing him.

"What's wrong?" He asked huskily trying to kiss you.

"You're supposed to be leaving." You smirked back. He groaned.

"But I need you." He pouted.

"Shoo." You giggled pulling the covers fully over you. Harry leaned over you wrapping his arms around you and the entire duvet. He picked you up. "Haarrryyy! Put me down!" You squealed.

"No, I'm taking you home." He growled as you squirmed in his arms, you both laughing.

"You'll be late!" You gasped as he started passionately kissing you. You pressed a hand on his chest to push him away. He was still laughing.

"Alright alright! I'm going now." He stole kisses from you as you followed him to your door barely wrapped in a duvet.

"I'll see you in 45 minutes." You said kissing him again.

"I am never going to make it in to work for then." He laughed with a sign. "It will be a sad day when I get to work on time." You giggled.

"Well perhaps if you left when I told you to leave you might have been." You teased. "Now go." He snuck another kiss onto her lips before leaving. You gave him a little wave as he disappeared out of view. You closed the door and stood in your hallway.

You walked back to your bedroom and flopped down on the bed. It started to sink in what had just happened. What had happened? You were dating Harry Cunningham. Harry Cunningham was your boyfriend.

* * *

Getting into work was different. Even though you were another year older, you had never felt happier. The pale blue walls seemed brighter, cleaner; the floors shined differently, every single piece of dust looked prettier on the book shelves.

You walked to your desk to find Harry was already sitting there smiling smugly to himself.

"Five minutes late Nicola? What have you been doing?"He scolded.

"Oh you know, sorting myself out." You joked giggling under your throat as you waited for Harry to realise what you were hinting at. He was staring at you confusedly, until realisation flickered across his face. His mouth fell open slightly as you grinned wickedly down at him.

"Please don't tell me what I think you're hinting at." He groaned.

"What are you thinking of Doctor Cunningham?"You stood closer to him; he took your hand and started to massage small circles on your palm. He kissed your wrist before you pulled away and ran your hand through his hair.

"You know exactly what I'm thinking of." He looked up at you his eyes burning into yours. "God you know how sexy and beautiful you are?" You smiled down at him.

You heard the unmistakable buzz as someone entered the frosted glass doors into the room. You became very aware of how close you were standing to Harry, and that he had his hand on the back of your thigh. You saw Harry glance around you before looking back up at you and mouthing 'Leo'.

"Did he see us?" You asked. He shook his head.

"No, I don't think so." He ran his strong hands down the back out your thigh. Just at his touch he was turning you on. You loved how he made you feel.

You looked around and saw Leo in his office. He was madly writing something. You suddenly felt guilty. Guilty that you hadn't told him about Harry. You looked back at Harry now who had his soft lips planted on your wrist.

"Harry?" He looked you at you, his hazel gazing up at you, a half grin on his face, the one that had a cheeky boyish charm to it. It melted your heart. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Do you think we'll last?" You asked seriously.

"Yes." He replied simply.

"Really though." You pressed your hand into his. "Because we waited for so long, and I just don't want to tell people and then we don't work out because I want us to work out and..."

"Nikki!" He interrupted. "Nikki. There is no fathomable reason why we wouldn't last. I did wait long, too long. And I regret that, but I now can't imagine my life without you. I promise you that I want to be with you forever now."

You could hardly contain your smile. You quickly sat down on his lap and you let him pull you close. Your hair fell down in front of your face creating a curtain of blonde inclosing you both.

"Can I kiss you?" You asked quietly.

"You never need to ask." Your lips met. You wrapped your arms tightly around his neck, responding to the passionate kiss. You pulled away with a giggle as you heard someone clearing their throat. You looked around, your arms still wrapped tightly around Harry, and saw Leo standing looking at them. He had a smirk on his face and his eyebrows were raised slightly.

"Anything you want to tell me?" He laughed folding his arms in front of him in a very authorative manner which Leo loved using.

"Nope, I don't think so." Harry replied lightly. "Hey Nikki, can you think of anything to tell Leo?"

"Nope nothing sorry Leo. Can't think of a thing." You giggled as Leo rolled his eyes at both of you.

"Well, I'm pleased and about time too." Harry's arms tightened around your waist. "Now please get on with your work." He said walking out the room. You grinned back at Harry.

You knew that this was where you meant to be. In his arms. Forever.

**Hm, not as pleased withthis chapter, but it's my first proper H/N fluff after *the* event :'( So I hope everyone enjoyed all of this, and I hope it has cheered up Welshclaire and Pinkswallowsun futher. And Charlotte88 of course, Another late Happy Birthday to you :)**

**Review anyone?**

**xxx**


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